Analyte detection in physiological fluids, e.g. blood or blood derived products, is of ever increasing importance to today's society. Analyte detection assays find use in a variety of applications, including clinical laboratory testing, home testing, etc., where the results of such testing play a prominent role in diagnosis and management in a variety of disease conditions. Analytes of interest include glucose for diabetes management, cholesterol, and the like. In response to this growing importance of analyte detection, a variety of analyte detection protocols and devices for both clinical and home use have been developed.
Many of the protocols and devices that have been developed to date employ a signal producing system to identify the presence of the analyte of interest in a physiological sample, such as blood. For example, one glucose detection system employed today uses a signal producing system that includes glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase, meta[3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone]N-sulfonyl benzenesulfonate monosodium (MBTHSB) and 8-(anilino)-1-naphthalenesulfonate (ANS). See U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,031. When glucose is combined with the above signal producing system in the presence of oxygen, the following reaction takes place: ##STR2##
Despite the good results that have been achieved with the MBTHSB-ANS dye couple as described above, there is room for improvement in this system. For example, the blue dye product produced by the above described MBTHSB/ANS dye couple signal producing system is subject to drift during the detection phase of the assay, which ultimately can cause inaccuracy in the results.
Accordingly, there is continued interest in the development of new compounds for use in signal producing systems for analyte detection. Of particular interest would be the development of an ANS substitute that would yield a blue reaction product that is not subject to drift during detection.
Relevant Literature
Patents of interest include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,935,346; 4,962,040; 5,453,360; 5,563,031; 5,776,719; and 5,922,530. Also of interest is: Kosower & Kanety, "Intramolecular Donor-Acceptor Systems. 10. Multiple Fluorescences from 8-(phenylamino)-1-naphthalenesulfonates," J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1983) 105: 6236-6243.